This invention relates to a retractable hard top for passenger cars comprising two roof sections that can be lowered in an accommodation space in the tail of a passenger car, and to a passenger car with this hard top.
Originally, starting with carriages, engine-driven vehicles were first constructed in an open manner, and had only partial roofs. Open driving was and is part of the culture of automobile driving, now more so than ever before. In the case of convertibles, it is primarily folding roofs, which are constructed in such a manner as to be able to be retracted and stretched out again, with a structure of bars and an external skin which is correspondingly foldable. Such types of folding roofs have disadvantages, particularly for reason of restricted suitability during bad weather and winter and are, because of their construction, adversely affected by unpleasant wind noises at high speeds.
For an increased suitability during bad weather and winter, rigid convertible folding tops, so-called hard tops, which were designed in an extremely expensive and detachable manner and, in particular, also had the same expensive paintwork as the rest of the vehicle, had been developed many years ago.
Because of tendencies within the culture of motor vehicles at the present time, convertibles are no longer purely used as leisure-time vehicles, and thus as the second or third cars of a household, for example, but instead function as the primary or year-round vehicle.
Proposals for hard tops which can be retracted into the vehicle are additionally known from the current state of the art. A divisible hard top which is formed from a first roof section, which extends essentially from the xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d column to the xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d column of the car, and which has a second roof section which essentially forms the xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d column and encloses the passenger space above the rear section of the motor vehicle, is already known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,592A1, for example. Both roof sections can be moved independently of one another whereby, in particular, the first roof section can be moved into the second roof section.
A divided hard top is likewise known from EP-A1-764 553, in which the first roof section is completely moved into the second roof section, after which the second roof section is retracted into the vehicle by means of swiveling.
In the last mentioned state of the art, it is particularly disadvantageous that, in addition to a moving and swiveling mechanism, which is extremely expensive in constructional terms, a restriction of the head room is brought about because of the retraction of the forward roof section under the rear roof section, so that either the entire hard top must be constructed to be considerably higher, so that construction must thereby be carried out in a manner contrary to the requirements for a sporty convertible, or else, on the other hand, the occupants must exit the vehicle if the hard top has to be retracted into the vehicle.
Therefore, the main object of this invention is to provide a retractable hard top for passenger cars, which has a simple construction and which, by means of simple kinematics and with the maintenance of the necessary head clearance, makes possible a complete retraction of the hard top into the car.
This object is solved by the features of claim 1.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a retractable hard top for passenger cars, comprising a first substantially rigid roof section, which forms an essentially horizontal upper roof portion of the passenger car; a second substantially rigid rear roof section which forms a substantially vertical or obliquely extending roof portion which is of hollowed shape, thereby forming an inner space, wherein the rear roof section at an upper end is pivotally connected to the first roof section via a rod assembly at both longitudinal sides of the passenger car and at a lower end is pivotally connected to the passenger car at a support at both sides of the passenger car; pivotally arranged guiding rods that link the rod assemblies and the supports of the passenger car, wherein the rod assembly and the guiding rod are formed and connected in a manner that, when an upper end of the guiding rods is pivoted towards a tail of the car, the second roof section is pivoted in the direction of the tail of the car, and simultaneously the first roof section is pivoted in the same direction, a rear end of the first roof section is lowered under the level of a front end of the second roof section, and the first roof section is moved into the inner space of the second roof section, until the second roof section is deposited upside down in an accommodation space of the car and the first roof section is deposited upside down into the inner space of the second roof section. The first roof section comprises two slots extending longitudinally from the rear end at both sides of the first roof section, wherein the rod assemblies move through the slots when the first roof section is pivoted. Due to the pivotal movement of the first roof section into the second roof section during the swiveling movement of the second roof section a complete retraction of the hard top into the car is possible, with the maintenance of enough head clearance for the occupants of the car.
Furthermore, it is achieved that the space for the lowered hard top can be significantly reduced and the components of the passenger car, such as the fuel tank, can be dimensioned sufficiently large.
As usual, the retractable hard top according to the invention comprises an axially symmetrical structure regarding the longitudinal axis of the passenger car. The arrangement of the rod assembly is carried out at the longitudinal side portions and is made symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal axis of the passenger car.
Advantageously the rod assembly of the first and second roof section comprises for each longitudinal side of the passenger car an essentially straight and an essentially curved or bent, pivotally arranged connection rod. By means of the total of four connection rods, two for each side of the car, an especially simple mechanism for folding or extracting the first roof section with respect to the second rear roof section is provided.
Further details, features and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.